Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 6, 1995 TAG: 9507060047
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Ben Tate of Pulaski shared the account "of one Pulaski boy in World War II" with hundreds of spectators attending the July 4 dedication of Pulaski County's War Memorial in front of the Old Courthouse.
Tate, the main speaker at the ceremony, piloted one of three planes that sunk a Japanese aircraft carrier in 1944 during the First Battle of the Philippine Sea. The U.S. forces were trying to win Japanese-held islands in the Pacific to use as air bases.
Early in the morning on June 20, 1944, Tate flew one of four scout planes from his carrier, the Belleau Wood, seeking the Japanese fleet. They returned at noon and, by 3 p.m. that day, Tate figured there was not enough daylight left to attack even if enemy was located.
But at 3:30 p.m., another plane spotted the fleet 300 miles from the Belleau Wood. The rule of thumb was that airplanes could fly missions as far as 200 miles from their carrier with enough fuel to get back - but the Belleau Wood planes joined in the attack, anyway.
When Tate reached the area, three-quarters of his fuel was gone. He and another pilot joined a plane piloted by the unit's skipper heading for an enemy carrier.
"Once we started our attack, all hell broke loose. The entire fleet started shooting at us," Tate said. Bullets came through the cockpit striking his hand and knocking off the trigger to his wing guns. But the three planes still managed to launch their torpedoes at the carrier.
Tate started to try joining two other planes in the air around him, until he saw the pilot in the open cockpit of the nearest. "He was a Japanese." Tate's gunner had strafed the carrier as they passed over but now his guns were jammed, and he called for Tate to use his wing guns.
"I didn't tell him that my trigger had been shot off," Tate said.
Tate flew right at the first craft, then the second. Each time, the other planes broke off. Tate supposed they were out of ammunition.
The skipper's plane had been hit and was flying erratically. Tate tried to stay with it, but lost it in the clouds. Later, its only two survivors would tell him of waiting overnight in their life jackets for rescue and seeing the carrier they had struck sink beneath the ocean.
It grew dark, and Tate was low on fuel. He saw flashes in the clouds ahead. "I thought it was heat lightning but, when I got closer, I saw that the admiral had turned on the lights to get us back," he said, despite the danger from enemy planes.
Even so, Tate ran out of fuel before he could land. He pulled up his wheels and settled on the water. He and his crew got out on a raft, and were picked up by a destroyer. The third plane that took part in their attack landed on a carrier with two gallons of fuel in its tank.
Tate told of another Pulaski County soldier, his brother, John, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. He stayed in the Army and was later killed in Korea.
"Pulaski never had a finer son, but there were many like him, and that is why we are here today," Tate said.
The names of all the Pulaski County natives who had been killed in action, were missing in action or had been prisoners of war were read out individually, before an eternal flame was lit for the memorial.
"This is the moment I have been waiting for since 1989," said retired Army Col. Dallas Cox, who spearheaded the drive for the memorial, as he formally turned it over to the county.
"We all hope that no new wars will add names to these monuments," said Board of Supervisors Chairman Jerry White in accepting the memorial. But history, he said, has taught that it is likely to happen.
"As a veteran and as a military retiree," said state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, "I can tell you that young people, young people, fight wars ... We are the beneficiaries of their actions and commitment. Our lives would certainly be different if it were not for those brave young people ... We cannot and must not forget them."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***